In just six weeks, a string of four mules did as much work as a crew of humans could accomplish in about nine months.

They showed off their work ethic this winter, when the Shawnee and Hoosier National forests worked with AmeriCorps Emergency Response Team to improve Shawnee's Lusk Creek Wilderness trail system.

Since about 2000, the partners have returned to Shawnee, the Illinois home to the Garden of the Gods, to work with their trail crews and other volunteers. In 2005, Hoosier National Forest wilderness ranger Rod Fahl began bringing his string of mules.

'If you have a trail crew hauling gravel, it might take them six weeks to do a mile of trail, which is what mules can do in about one week,' said Shawnee Trails Coordinator Kelly Pearson.

Since the wilderness trail system is part of a designated wilderness area, motorized or mechanized vehicles can't be taken into the forest.

'The wilderness areas are so remote and it's hard to move things around,' Pearson said. 'Those mules really provide the horsepower, if you will, to get us farther back into the back country quicker and really has made it more efficient to do what it is we need to do.'

For six weeks, the mules, named Jack, Ruth, Belle and Paul, graveled sections of trail that were reconstructed just last summer. First, the AmeriCorps team loaded gravel into specially made packs. Collectively, the mules take more than a quarter-ton of gravel on each trip to the work site, where it is dumped into turnpike structures and spread by other AmeriCorps crew members. This process is repeated until the trail is hardened.

When humans gravel trail, they are usually able to haul 50 pounds of gravel on their back at one time. Jack, Ruth, Belle and Paul can carry almost 250 pounds at a time.

'Just like pictures we've seen of the pioneers plowing the fields, that's basically what they did this summer,' Pearson said. 'A plow was pulled behind mules and opened up new trails for us, and then (the mules) came behind that with a grader and smoothed out the tread. There's really a lot of functionality with those mules.'

What may be more interesting about the mules, besides their functionality, would be their ages.

Belle and Paul are 16, Ruth is 25 and Jack is pushing 30. The life expectancy of a mule is about 27 years.

'They've been doing this for quite a while now,' Fahl said.

Fahl began as a Pennsylvania wilderness ranger in 1989. His job then involved using livestock for trail work, which is something he said interested him. He moved to Indiana in 1998 to continue working with animals on similar projects.

When he acquired the four mules, they had all been trained to ride, drive and pack. But regardless of how many times the mules have come back to reconstruct trails, training is required every year.

'They must be trained to haul and dump the gravel. Sometimes when it's dumped, it lands on their feet, which can spook them,' Fahl said. 'They also have to be trained to carry that much weight. They have to start carrying light and build up to over 200 pounds early in the season.'

When the mules are plowing, hauling and graveling, Fahl usually rides one mule and leads the others.

'Plowing in the wilder- ness is totally different than plowing in a field,' he said. 'It's pretty intensive work, so it really takes an animal who is used to that. It takes a lot of time to really get the mules used to that type of work.'

When the mules aren't plowing, hauling or training, they're resting up for the next season.

'They'll definitely come back,' Pearson said. 'We'll see them hauling gravel again in September.'

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